Games Journalism! Wainwright/Florence/Tomb Raider/Eurogamer/Libel Threats/Doritos

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what we need is to get down on Kuchera's anger towards this man (or Forbes). no one was talking about it until Kuchera suddenly went on a rampage. ROFL. i trust that gaf will find THE reason for this sudden Ben Banner to Hulk transformation. xD
 
this is why they love twitter and hate GAF
someone makes a tweet you dont want to/cant answer? Block them and pretend it never happened
 
rumbalumba said:
what we need is to get down on Kuchera's anger towards this man (or Forbes). no one was talking about it until Kuchera suddenly went on a rampage. ROFL. i trust that gaf will find THE reason for this sudden Ben Banner to Hulk transformation. xD
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maybe he preordered a ni no kuni wizard edition and his order got cancelled. you should tell him to chillax.
 
FyreWulff said:
Mike of PA will do it too. They're not much far apart in maturity level.

If they didn't have their lawyer Khoo reeling him back in, Mike would have burned down PA just to win an internet argument multiple times. Dude goes full zealot on some shit.

When you've reduced one of them to just saying "deal with it" over and over again, you know you're not going to get a debate or even discussion. They either see you as one of them, or just consider you one of the "peons".

They get away with it too because they just play to their marks over and over again. I mean shit, they're pretty blatant about trying to force memes these days.
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This almost puts that Ocean Marketing incident last year in a new light. I never knew PA could be so juvenile.
 
polyh3dron said:
maybe he preordered a ni no kuni wizard edition and his order got cancelled. you should tell him to chillax.
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yawn...i guess people like this are still numerous even on gaf. tsk tsk tsk.

Ni no Kuni endgame spoiler:
kinda like how Oliver's mom in the other world also dies in the end? yeah i'd be angry too, having to go on an adventure only to be met with a fate like that
 
I've not been a fan of Mr Kuchera for a while. Since this Ars story on PS3 security.

Original Headline (Still in the URL)

"psn-hacked-showing-stunning-lack-of-credit-card-security"


Later changed to " PSN hacked, custom firmware could pose security risk to users "

Kuchera posted a non-story without any research and hardly understanding the topic. Ars readers called him out on the comments, he nastily replies to them. So much for "Do your research, this should harm his career".

Called him out on this on twitter back in the day. Got insta-banned.
 
ultron87 said:
Honestly I bet that if it that article had been posted on say, Kotaku, this thread would be just filled to the brim with outrage.
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ditto. It was pretty dumb and we've always been calling for journos to do their own work (see Jason Schrier demanding proof an unchecked made-up rumur was false, MCV saying it wasn't their job to look for a Hitman reviews after doing an article on Hitman reviews that missed out all the negative ones.

and lol at schrier's and kuchera's hypocrisy. Everyone comes out of this looking bad.
 
3CRBKip.png
 
To be fair, Kain assumed that, since the game went unreleased for decades yet was readily available in ROM format, the original devs themselves must have put it online, which is not entirely unreasonable.

Frankly, I agree with Kuchera on this one. It was a pretty stupid move telling people to "just emulate it" when the game is set to be commercially released. But the way Kuchera's gone about this is completely ridiculous, and Kain gets my respect for actually admitting his mistake and fixing his article.
 
There's a huge difference between writing about emulators and writing "just download this game and play it on an emulator instead of buying it."
 
ultron87 said:
There's a huge difference between writing about emulators and writing "just download this game and play it on an emulator instead of buying it."
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Yeah, I'm not defending Kuchera's attitude, but his argument has been pretty consistent. I don't see the hypocrisy despite that article being linked and re-linked like three hundred times on Twitter. It is perfectly legal to play Skyward Sword on your PC, with a real copy of Skyward Sword.

*Nobody* has a legal copy of Nightmare Busters right now, so sending people off to play it on an emulator is.. not legal.
 
Yagharek said:
God I love exposed hypocrisy.
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I'm not seeing the hypocrisy here. Neither post encourages people to download ROMs.

Nihilistic Monk said:
I've not been a fan of Mr Kuchera for a while. Since this Ars story on PS3 security.

Original Headline (Still in the URL)

"psn-hacked-showing-stunning-lack-of-credit-card-security"


Later changed to " PSN hacked, custom firmware could pose security risk to users "

Kuchera posted a non-story without any research and hardly understanding the topic. Ars readers called him out on the comments, he nastily replies to them. So much for "Do your research, this should harm his career".

Called him out on this on twitter back in the day. Got insta-banned.
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This on the other hand is a good example, seeing as he slammed the Forbes writer for not doing research. Pretty much on the same level.
 
Something tells me the story is that they have something against that guy in particular more than they have against the content of a badly written article. If they are the journalism police there are bigger sites with bigger fish to fry.

And why am I not surprised at Jason's apparition act. I love how he always appears in some form, then plays the innocent bystander dude.
 
Nihilistic Monk said:
I've not been a fan of Mr Kuchera for a while. Since this Ars story on PS3 security.

Original Headline (Still in the URL)

"psn-hacked-showing-stunning-lack-of-credit-card-security"


Later changed to " PSN hacked, custom firmware could pose security risk to users "

Kuchera posted a non-story without any research and hardly understanding the topic. Ars readers called him out on the comments, he nastily replies to them. So much for "Do your research, this should harm his career".

Called him out on this on twitter back in the day. Got insta-banned.
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Ugh, that's lame.

I guess it's human nature to be hypocritical (we all are at times, without noticing it). But it's hard to entirely compare the two articles.

Phazeta said:
To be fair, Kain assumed that, since the game went unreleased for decades yet was readily available in ROM format, the original devs themselves must have put it online, which is not entirely unreasonable.

Frankly, I agree with Kuchera on this one. It was a pretty stupid move telling people to "just emulate it" when the game is set to be commercially released. But the way Kuchera's gone about this is completely ridiculous, and Kain gets my respect for actually admitting his mistake and fixing his article.
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Pretty much how I feel. Plus, it's not like Kuchera has never made any mistakes. I guess I understand why it's more of an emotional issue here, because the Forbes article was a big no no. I mean, you can't be a journalist in any industry, and suggest pirating something in that industry. But at the same time, he did apologize and admit his mistake.

The fact that Kuchera keeps going on about how it should HURT his career badly, just makes any mistake he's done, seem even more hypocritical (such as what the poster above me linked - the PS3 article). Again, can't really compare the two articles directly, as content is everything. But it's hard not to think there is something more to this being brought to the table (bad feelings) etc.
 
Lancehead said:
zkylon, a game journalist!

Well, I retroactively didn't care for any of your posts!
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And you've also seen my face! NOOOOO

Not really ever considered myself a journalist, just a freelancing reviewer for a small site a long time ago. I researched, beat all games in multiple difficulties, never reviewed a game from a company I'm biased towards (Obsidian), etc., so I stand for all the reviews I've written, even though I don't think I was mature enough to be able to tell people what to buy back then (and still am not), which is why I stopped doing it on the first place.

So, yeah, sorry if the sound of the jet that's flying me off to play some GTA V in some expensive Las Vegas hotel is bothering you, but my life's hard enough already to care.

idlethreats said:
Trying to track down tweets that are more than a few months old is an exercise in futility, but I did a quick search of GJAIF and came up with these two posts. Ugh, completely forgot that Kuchera shit on him for using donated money to buy his girlfriend's mental health medication. Unbelievable. I know GJAIF used to have the emails that Kuchera sent him up there, but seems like he took them down at some point - can't find em anywhere. Vaguely recall that, in them, Kuchera gloated about being successful and being able to provide for his children, while insulting GJAIF for struggling to find a job and not being able to afford his gf's mental healthcare.
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Oh, thanks for doing the research :)

It's surprising how gross people can be, mocking someone for being out of a job is just soulless.
 
I wish Ben Kuchera's vigilance on his peers were applied to more well-deserving examples of lack of research and failure to understand the issue. Pick your battles, etc.

Such as every time any game journalist has used the 'entitlement' descriptor.
 
Oersted said:
Hey look, its a good article:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-01-shooters-how-video-games-fund-arms-manufacturers
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That's quite good (haven't finished yet though).
But there is a small portion that really struck me.

Today licensed weapons are commonplace in video games, but the deals between game makers and gun-manufacturer are shrouded. Not one of the publishers contacted for this article was willing to discuss the practice. (EA: "I'm afraid we can't progress this." Activision: "Not something we can assist with at present... My hands are tied." Codemasters: "We're focused on our racing titles these days." Crytek: "We can't help you with that request." Sega: "[This] doesn't sit comfortably." Sony: "I can't help with this I'm afraid.")
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That's kinda frightening. Looks like a huge lobby or a small mafia or something. That would be nice to have some insightful info based on that, off the record if need be.
 
Looks like a huge lobby or a small mafia or something.
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People want the real names, publishers pay the license fees to get them. That's all there is to it. I don't know what lobby you're seeing here or what they would be lobbying for, exactly... Other than increased sales by being as superficially authentic as possible. And with recent events it's no wonder that the publishers don't want to discuss this. I see no way how they could spin this in their favour in the current climate.
I'm more worried about what this says about everyone who plays the games and who developers think they're actually pandering to. Pretty sure not everyone who like CoD glorifies war, but I wouldn't be surprised if the way all modern war games treat the subject matter coloured people's perception of current conflicts.
 
LorDjidane said:
That's quite good (haven't finished yet though).
But there is a small portion that really struck me.



That's kinda frightening. Looks like a huge lobby or a small mafia or something. That would be nice to have some insightful info based on that, off the record if need be.
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Yeah it's not so much that it's omerta or something--as you can see in the article, the gun manufacturers themselves would be happy to talk about it. But the game companies know it's shaky PR to tout the obvious fact they pay gun makers for licenses, so they won't comment on it. At the same time, real guns are a selling point. They're trying to eat their cake and have it too.

Curufinwe said:
What a strange, angry, petty man.

2424570-1359618612878_super.jpg
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This is one of those "joke but not-joke" things where the person would say "obviously it's not to be taken seriously" except that paradoxically there's no joke if he doesn't really mean it at all.
 
Would have been neat if instead of lashing out at the dude he gave him some constructive feedback.

Ah, who am I kidding?
 
On somehow related news:


Does anyone remember those goodies mags and websites are getting? Stuff with too high value for collectors editions? Well it keeps hapenning.

Trion Worlds is sending metal suitcases around. Inside this metal case is a plate (metal plate of course) with Ark Hunter Recruit written on it, a high value biro and a custom made watch.
(The game promoted.)
 
Oersted said:
On somehow related news:


Does anyone remember those goodies mags and websites are getting? Stuff with too high value for collectors editions? Well it keeps hapenning.

Trion Worlds is sending metal suitcases around. Inside this metal case is a plate (metal plate of course) with Ark Hunter Recruit written on it, a high value biro and a custom made watch.
(The game promoted.)
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The funny thing is a lot of this shit gets sent out, and half the time people don't actually want it. A lot of this kind of stuff I get through I take to charity stores (are they called thrift stores in the US?) and donate it as they're always incredibly grateful for anything new/unused. As long as the software arrives to cover, I and most others don't give a damn about anything else - and anybody who does has their priorities dead wrong.
 
Oersted said:
On somehow related news:


Does anyone remember those goodies mags and websites are getting? Stuff with too high value for collectors editions? Well it keeps hapenning.

Trion Worlds is sending metal suitcases around. Inside this metal case is a plate (metal plate of course) with Ark Hunter Recruit written on it, a high value biro and a custom made watch.
(The game promoted.)
Click to expand...
Most writers are entirely unaffected by stuff like that, though. I have a whole bunch of shirts and other crap laying around that publishers sent me, and not for a second would I like a game better just because they sent me some silly statue.

They discussed this on the Bombcast (recently, I think). Publishers usually send them the Limited Edition of a game over in the hopes of getting extra coverage, but 99,9% of the time they just rip the game out of the case, start playing it, and discard the extra junk to never look at it again. The other 0,1% of the time the stuff is used to make a video to point out how silly it is.

I'm sure there's probably some bad journalist out there doing it all for the swag. But, really, most high-profile websites get sent so much crap on a weekly basis that it's unlikely to influence them in their review.
 
Irregardless of whatever Kuchera actually said, his pure attitude has been disgustingly immature. Really, the only evidence you need is the dealwithit.jpg he's using. It's the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and going "LALALALALALA" during an argument. It doesn't matter whether you're right or not. You look like a tosser.

Even Sterling in his early years was more humble than this. Jesus Christ.
 
Thomper said:
Most writers are entirely unaffected by stuff like that, though. I have a whole bunch of shirts and other crap laying around that publishers sent me, and not for a second would I like a game better just because they sent me some silly statue.

They discussed this on the Bombcast (recently, I think). Publishers usually send them the Limited Edition of a game over in the hopes of getting extra coverage, but 99,9% of the time they just rip the game out of the case, start playing it, and discard the extra junk to never look at it again. The other 0,1% of the time the stuff is used to make a video to point out how silly it is.

I'm sure there's probably some bad journalist out there doing it all for the swag. But, really, most high-profile websites get sent so much crap on a weekly basis that it's unlikely to influence them in their review.
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Make a poll for journalists.

First question: Is it right that this kind of stuff keeps being send from game devs to "journalists"?

Second question: Are they effected by these presents?
 
Thomper said:
Most writers are entirely unaffected by stuff like that, though. I have a whole bunch of shirts and other crap laying around that publishers sent me, and not for a second would I like a game better just because they sent me some silly statue.

They discussed this on the Bombcast (recently, I think). Publishers usually send them the Limited Edition of a game over in the hopes of getting extra coverage, but 99,9% of the time they just rip the game out of the case, start playing it, and discard the extra junk to never look at it again. The other 0,1% of the time the stuff is used to make a video to point out how silly it is.

I'm sure there's probably some bad journalist out there doing it all for the swag. But, really, most high-profile websites get sent so much crap on a weekly basis that it's unlikely to influence them in their review.
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I'd like to think that this is the case usually, but we've had a few examples to the contrary regarding Kotaku that came up in this thread earlier. There was the fluff post devoted to unboxing a special edition Halo 360 - they pretty much provided free PR for the game/Microsoft just because the 360 was sent to them. There was also the incident last fall where one of Kotaku's staff tweeted a picture of his living room and people saw that he was displaying that Assassin's Creed III swag flag on his wall, the one that had been sent to the press to "thank" them for good E3 coverage or something. Totilo apologized for it and told the person to get rid of it, but it really should have never happened in the first place and it somewhat boggles the mind that the person in question (can't remember who it was) ever thought it would be okay.
 
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